Deal’s chief of staff, Chris Riley, sent word to lawmakers Nov. 9, a few days before the special session, that the governor would only be asking them to approve the jet-fuel break through the end of the fiscal year, June 30. The governor would like it to continue longer, but members of the General Assembly will decide that when lawmakers convene for the regular session in January.

State Sen. Josh McKoon, R-Columbus, who has opposed the jet-fuel tax break — as well as some other industry tax breaks — voted against it again Saturday. He called it “corporate welfare” for an industry making billions of dollars in profits.

“Bad public policy is bad public policy,” McKoon said. “The Legislature seated in January should decide this issue.”

McKoon said low- and middle-income Georgians are among those who have to make up the difference to fund government services — including airport improvements — when an industry gets a tax break.

“Why should they subsidize an industry they cannot even afford to utilize?” he said.

State Sen. Bill Heath, R-Bremen, a pilot, called it a “disgrace” that even though the state has collected jet-fuel taxes in the past, it has invested less in airport upgrades than South Carolina.

State Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta, said the Legislature needs to do a better job of vetting such tax breaks — the jet-fuel measure made it through five days after the bill was filed. Such measures typically take most of a 40-day regular session to win final approval.

“We have to do better in terms of telling our people why we are doing this,” Jones said.

In a statement after the vote, Delta said: “The General Assembly’s vote to support Governor Deal’s executive order to suspend the tax on jet fuel will level the playing field with other states and position Georgia airports for continued passenger and cargo growth. We want to thank Governor Deal and the General Assembly for their vision and leadership that continues to make Georgia a great state for business, and we are proud to call Georgia our home.”

The other bills allocate $270 million toward hurricane relief and provide $200 million worth of income tax credits to timber and pecan farmers for replanting trees they lost.

Deal and lawmakers said they couldn’t wait until the General Assembly convenes in January to begin providing help to the region.

The spending measure — which would raise this year’s overall state budget to about $26.5 billion — would, among other things, provide $69 million in emergency relief to local and state agencies, $69 million for debris removal, $55 million to assist farmers facing substantial crop losses and damage, and $20 million to address recovery and cleanup efforts by timberland owners.

“The amount of money we are putting toward the farmers … in our world of agriculture, that’s a drop in the bucket,” said state Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge. “That’s a start. The economy (of southwest Georgia) will probably never recover from this.”

Some of the money will provide matching funds required to obtain federal emergency aid. Other cleanup and repair costs will be paid by the federal government, although state officials say it could be months, if not years, for that money to make it to Georgia.